Matthew Inman, aka "The Oatmeal", knows a thing or two about super-successful charity fundraising with a side of good-nature humor. Now he's set his sights and site on the task of saving the laboratory of the man who nearly single handedly created the foundation that allows the world of electronics as we know it today -- Nikola Tesla.

A Serbian (at the time Austrian Empire) immigrant, young Tesla invented a host of inventions -- most notably alternating current, radio, radar, x-rays, hydroelectric power, wireless transmission, and inventions that would later be used to build the transistor. The Oatmeal provides this helpful guide to why Tesla was arguably the most brilliant geek/inventor who ever lived.

So when The Oatmeal discovered that Tesla's famous Wardenclyffe Lab -- located near Shoreham, Long Island -- was for sale, it sprung into action.

It discovered that there was a proposal to bid $1.7M USD on the property (officially priced at $1.6M USD) to preserve the famous lab as a museum. $850K USD of the funds were to be fundraised by charities, while New York State would offer up a matching $850K grant.

It writes to potential large donors, "Sponsoring the museum would be the PR equivalent of having your CEO jump into an icey river to save a herd of drowning kittens. Don't you want to save some kittens?"

But Mr. Inman says small donors are equally important in raising enough funds to beat the rival bidder. He's using online fund-raising platform IndieGogo to try to raise the $850K. So far $350K in donations have rolled in. That leaves $500K in donations needed with 45 days left.

The charity will try to buy the property at the lowest price possible and use any remaining funds to work on the new museum. There's a lot of work to be done as the property was marred by the destruction of Wardenclyffe Tower -- a wireless power transmission device -- which was seized by the U.S. Marine Corps during World War I and demolished with dynamite, for fear it would be used as a locating landmark by German submarines.

Wardenclyffe Tower was unfortunately demolished, but with a little help Tesla's iconic on-site lab can avoid a similar fate. [Image Source: The Oatmeal]

The Oatmeal writes:

The Indiegogo campaign is linked directly to the bank account of Tesla Science Center at Wardenclyffe, formerly known as Friends of Science East, Inc. It is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization registered with the State of New York.

Tesla was a true mad genius of the sort you'd see in comic books and bad B movies. Even his "earthquake" device is real, and Mythbusters was able to substantially vibrate the 100s of thousands of tons of a steel bridge with the five pound resonance device.

Turning this lab into a museum is a no brainer. And yet, we have to scrounge around to cough up a measly 850k? Just goes to show how unglamorous science is, even if it's what makes our world go round.